Not applicable.
Not applicable.
This invention relates to dispensers for volatile materials such as insect control agents, scents and the like. In particular, the invention relates to dispensers that simultaneously dispense a volatile from a burnable coil and provide illumination.
There are a number of known dispensers for volatile ingredients that provide the additional feature of lighting the surrounding area. This is particularly desirable for environments such as camping and picknicking areas.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,033,212 discloses a lantern that burns fuel for light. The flame is contained in a glass, transparent globe that is covered at its top. The cover has a slot that receives a pad impregnated with a volatile material having an insect control agent. The waste heat from the burning fuel exits the globe through the slot, which heats the pad and releases the volatile. WO 00/78135 is another example of mounting a pad adjacent a flame. However, the types of pads used with these designs can be somewhat costly to produce, and in some cases place constraints on the performance of the active.
Citronella candles also provide light and also disperse an insect repellent. Unfortunately, exposed candle flames can be snuffed by the wind.
Insect coils are also well known. They are typically a spiral coil of compressed, largely pulp material which typically has been impregnated with an insect control active. The coils can alternatively or in addition contain other active ingredients having different characteristics, such as aromatics or disinfectants. These coils are extremely inexpensive, and due to their slow burn rate can provide overnight protection.
However, these coils can also snuff out if exposed to too much wind. Thus, it has been proposed to house them in special pots that restrict outside gusts from reaching the coil. This also has the benefit of inhibiting persons from accidently touching the coil while it is burning. See e.g. U.S. Pat. No. 6,061,950. However, these pots may disperse active at a somewhat slower rate, thus requiring them to be started a longer time before an area is deemed xe2x80x9cmosquito safexe2x80x9d.
Thus, there still is a need for an improved volatile dispensing device.
In one aspect the invention provides a lamp for dispensing a volatile material. There is a burnable coil having the volatile material, and a burn vessel for housing the coil. The vessel has openings allowing air to pass through the vessel and by the coil. A flame source is mounted above the coil. A chimney is mounted around the flame source so as to direct volatized material from the burning coil to be drawn into the chimney past the flame source and then up outside the chimney.
In preferred forms the burn vessel has a cover and a base. The base has a raised support for supporting the coil above a bottom of the base. The chimney is removably seated on the cover in a recess in the cover. The cover further includes a plurality of openings, some of which are positioned radially inside, and some of which are positioned radially outside, of the recess.
The cover recess can include a central depression for receiving the flame source such as a candle. The flame source can have a cup containing the candle, where the cup has a bottom with a recess sized to receive an upwardly extending mounting post of the cover. The base can have peripheral walls with a plurality of openings therein.
In another aspect, the invention provides a kit providing a replacement coil and candle for lamps of the above kind.
Still another aspect of the invention provides a method for controlling flying insects. One provides the above lamp, lights both the coil and the flame source, and permits volatizable material such as an insect control agent to pass from the coil, past the flame, and out an upper opening of the chimney so as to expose an area to the volatizable material.
In an especially preferred form the lamp is used to repel and/or kill insects using an insect control agent such as an insecticide, a repellent, or an insect growth regulator. A wide variety of insect control agents are known which can be used for this purpose (e.g. those which have previously been incorporated into mosquito coils). We prefer d-cis/trans allethrin for use in mosquito control in the context of this lamp.
Because the lamp provides both light and insect control, and does so even in windy environments, it is particularly suitable for use when camping, or when eating in a backyard environment around sunset. The device is designed to utilize extremely inexpensive consumables (e.g. standard conventional burnable coils; standard wax candles).
The flame source serves multiple purposes. It provides light, while also creating convection to draw outside air past the burning coil. The air/volatile mix is then propelled out the top of the chimney to widely and quickly disperse the active.
The foregoing and other advantages of the present invention will appear from the following description. In the description, reference is made to the accompanying drawings which form a part hereof and in which there is shown by way of illustration preferred embodiments of the invention. These embodiments do not represent the full scope of the invention. Rather, reference should be made to the claims for interpreting the full scope of the invention.